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Article

J. Richard Haefer

Publication History:

Published in print:

08 December 2014

Published online:

25 May 2016

Guitar-like plucked chordophone of the Huichol (Wixáritari or Wirr’ariki) people of west-central Mexico. It is slightly larger than a violin. Typically the soundbox, neck (with four to six frets), nut, and pegboard are carved from a single piece of wood, and a thin piece of cedar serves as a soundtable; the soundbox is only slightly waisted or even oval. A bridge is attached to the soundtable using glue from a local plant. The four or five strings can be of metal, monofilament nylon, or gut. It is played with the ...

Article

Sorab Modi and Sarah Eyerly

Publication History:

Published in print:

26 November 2013

Published online:

22 September 2015

(b Los Angeles, CA, May 14, 1961). American violinist and violin teacher. She received her first violin lessons from her mother in 1963 and began formal study with Eunice Wennermark at six and Manuel Compinsky at age seven. As a child she played for ...

Article

J. Richard Haefer

Publication History:

Published in print:

08 December 2014

Published online:

25 May 2016

Violin of the Yoeme Yaqui Indians of Arizona and Northern Mexico. It is a variant of the European violin, made from local woods. The Yaqui and Mayo Indians originally learned violin making from missionaries in the 18th century. The instrument is used to accompany the ...

Article

Mary Riemer-Weller and Richard Keeling

Publication History:

Published in print:

08 December 2014

Published online:

25 May 2016

Musical bow of the native peoples of northern California and the San Joaquin Valley. The Yokut name is ma’wo; the Maidu term mawu or mawuwi; other Maiduan groups call it pan’da, and the Kato name is cele (‘singing’). It is the only string instrument used by native peoples of California, but musical bows are also found among the Tlingit of Alaska and the Carrier of northwest Canada. Among some Maiduan groups the bow was made especially for musical purposes and used by shamans for communicating with spirits. Some authorities say the shaman’s bow was rubbed with human blood. Most cultures including the Yokuts use a normal hunting bow, but more elaborate versions with a central bridge are also found. The Yurok played a regular hunting bow for amusement. The quiet bow sound was sometimes augmented by humming....

Article

J. Richard Haefer

Publication History:

Published in print:

08 December 2014

Published online:

25 May 2016

Mouth bow of the forest-dwelling Moré Indian culture of eastern Bolivia. It consists of a small strip of palm frond 15 to 20 cm long and 2 to 3 cm wide, with two strings of palm fibre attached. One end of the frond is put into the mouth and supported by the teeth; the other end is supported by one hand. The other hand rubs a small stick (20 cm long) on the strings, which are moistened with saliva. The instrument accompanies lovers’ songs....

Article

J. Richard Haefer

Publication History:

Published in print:

08 December 2014

Published online:

25 May 2016

Generic term for Anglo instruments used by the Tohono O’odham (Papago) Indians of Southern Arizona and Northern Sonora, Mexico. Piastakuḍ (‘fiesta thing’) refers to those instruments used to perform waila (social dance music; from the Spanish bailar, called ‘chicken scratch’ by Anglos) and pascola dance tunes. They include the ...

Article

J. Richard Haefer

Publication History:

Published in print:

08 December 2014

Published online:

25 May 2016

Violin of the Rarámuri (Tarahumara) people of Chihuahua, Mexico. The instruments have the basic European violin shape although the size and proportions vary; some are as large as a viola. Traditionally, the four strings were made from goat gut, but nowadays nylon and metal strings are normal. The bridge might be handmade or commercially mass-produced. Local woods such as ash, maple, pine, and willow are used for the top and back, and fresh, green wood that bends easily is used for the bouts, which can have a distinctly squared shape. Traditionally, the woods are glued with gum from the roots of the ...

Article

J. Richard Haefer

Publication History:

Published in print:

08 December 2014

Published online:

25 May 2016

Single- or two-string ‘fiddle’, technically a bowed tube zither, of the White Mountain and San Carlos Apache peoples of Arizona. Its origin is unknown. A 30- to 40-cm length of a dried flower stem of the agave plant (Agave angustifolia) about 5 to 7 cm in diameter is cut in half and the pith removed except for a 3-cm section left at each end to stop the tube and strengthen it. The two halves are glued back together with pine pitch and wrapped at intervals with sinew or baling wire. A lump of pinyon pine pitch might be melted onto one end to provide rosin for the bow. One string (seldom two) is attached at the proximal end and runs over two low bridges to a long tuning peg inserted laterally through the tube. One or two small soundholes, often triangular, are cut near each end. Old museum specimens are usually shorter than modern instruments, but the maker Chelsey Goseyun Wilson claims that earlier examples were made not only from the stem but also from the heart of the agave and were up to 55 cm long and 15 to 20 cm in diameter at the proximal end....

Article

John M. Schechter and J. Richard Haefer

Publication History:

Published in print:

08 December 2014

Published online:

25 May 2016

Mouth bow of the Shuar (Jívaro) people of the Ecuadorian Oriente region, made from guadúa cane-bamboo. It is plucked with the fingernails; the player’s mouth serves as a resonator. It is used in courting to accompany love songs at sunset. The paruntsi is a similar instrument made from a bent cherry-wood sapling with a string of gut or ...

Article

Mervyn McLean

Publication History:

Published in print:

08 December 2014

Published online:

22 September 2015

Mouth bow of Hawaii. It is reputed to be the only indigenous Hawaiian string instrument. It usually has two, or sometimes three strings, traditionally of plant fibre (later of horsehair or gut), stretched over a flexible wooden stave 3 to 4 cm wide and 40 to 60 cm long; the strings are attached in notches or holes at one end and wound around a fishtail-like carving at the other. The upper surface of the stave is flat and the under surface slightly convex. The wood (typically ...